WILLIAM J. & MOLLY TONEY ARCHIVE
Completed in 2016, the Toney Archive houses our collection and serves as the headquarters of the Historical Society of Mendocino County. Inside you can find our public research room and local history store.
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Our nearly 4,400 sq. ft. facility consists of the main archive structure and five annex rooms. It is fully climate controlled and outfitted with a HEPA filtration system to eliminate ambient mold spores and contaminates. The archive is windowless to prevent damaging UV rays, and all of the interior lights are LED.
COLLECTIONS
The HSMC houses various county, city and town records for Mendocino County, as well as personal collections, photographs, newspapers, oral histories, maps, art and documents pertaining to the social, political, geographic, and cultural history of Mendocino County. In addition to the records above, the some of the HSMC's highlighted collections include: the Edith Van Allen Murphey Collection; the Mendocino State Hospital Collection; the Promise of Paradise: Back to the Land Oral Histories Collection; the Mary Branson March, Frank and Polly Branson Collection (Pomo Baskets); the Carl Purdy Collection.
Items in our collection are available for personal use and commercial use in films, books, articles, and other media.
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In addition to our special collections, the HSMC maintains a large reference collection filled with compiled research and books on various topics within Mendocino County which are available to the public in our research room.
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The HSMC is currently cataloging and digitizing our collection from the ground up. Digitization has multiple benefits. Using digital copies of our special collections for reference and research allows us to handle these fragile items less, greatly prolonging their life. It increases the efficiency of research as well as the accessibility of our collection. As we get items cataloged and digitized, we will be making those files available in our research room and adding the items to our online database. This process will take many years, so if you don't see an item in our research room or on our online database, we still encourage you to reach out to us to check if we have an item that hasn't been cataloged yet.
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RESEARCH ROOM
Our research room is open to the public Thursday - Saturday 1 - 4 p.m. Docents are available to assist you with your research needs. To learn more about the resources available, and what to know before you visit, click below:
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RESEARCH SERVICES
Need help with your research? Can't make it to our archive? Need to access something in our special collection? The HSMC offers research services online and on-site by appointment! Our staff can search the HSMC collection for you. Click below to learn more:
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
The HSMC has a large collection of historic Mendocino County photographs, negatives, newspapers, maps, county records, books and more! We offer access to our special collection through on-site appointments, email, and our online database. Click below to search what is cataloged so far: